Vending machine article delivery chute arrangement



- A ril 4, 1967 v F. A.. GASPARlNl 3, 2,

I VENDING MACHINE ARTICLE DELIVERY CHUTE ARRANGEMENT Filed April 28,1965 I 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG. I.

WITNESSES: INVENTOR 7 Francis A. Guspclrini- ATTORNEY April 4, 1967 F.A. GASPARINI VENDING MACHINE ARTICLE DELIVERY CHUTE ARRANGEMENT C5Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 2 April 4, 1967 F. A. GASPARIN] 3,312,512

VENDING MACHINE ARTICLE DELIVERY CHU'IE ARRANGEMENT Filed April 28, 1965v 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 I FIG. 4.

i- 4o 34 I 4|; 46 47 I I l I I I I I I l a United States Patent3,312,512 VENDING MACHINE ARTICLE DELIVERY CHUTE ARRANGEMENT Francis A.Gasparini, Longmeadow, Mass, assignor to Westinghouse ElectricCorporation, Pittsburgh, Pa., a

corporation of Pennsylvania Filed Apr. 28, 1965, Ser- No. 451,575Claims. (Cl. 312- 35) The present invention relates to vending machines.

Vending machines of the type having a plurality of sideby-side articlestorage columns within the vending cabinet together with a vendingopening in a faced Wall of the cabinet are well known. When suchmachines are arranged and intended to vend refrigerated articles, eachvending opening should be as small as possible to reduce therefrigeration load as should be obvious to one skilled in the art. Also,when the vending machine is refrigerated, the cabinet should be ascompact as possible for a given capacity of stored and chilled objects.For example, when bottled cold drinks are to be stored and vended, theSldC- by-Side columns of stored bottles should be as close together aspossible and the vending opening should be only slightly larger than themaximum cross-sectional dimensions of the bottle used. In order toconvey a bottle to be vended from any one of a plurality of side-by-sidestorage columns to a relatively small vending opening, a chute iscustomarily provided.

In order to provide the desired compactness of the vending machine, theabove-mentioned chute must have sharply converging and angled wallsurfaces which are sometimes troublesome in that a bottle beingdelivered from a storage column to the vending opening may become wedgedor jammed and not continue to move by gravity towards and through thevending opening.

It is a primary object of the present invention to provide an improvedchute arrangement for a vending machine that will minimize thepossibility of binding, jamming, of wedging of an article beingdelivered from any one of a plurality of side by-side article storagecolumns to a vending opening.

Another important object of the present invention is to provide avending machine having an improved article delivery gravity chute thatis so constructed and arranged as to impart added motion to the articlesbeing delivered thereby and insure a lively action to prevent thearticles from binding, wedging, jamming or otherwise halting in theirmovement by gravity from any one of a plurality of side-by-sidepositioned storage columns to a vending opening in the cabinet of thevending machine.

In accordance with the invention, an article delivery chute havingdownwardly converging side walls and a forwardly and downwardly slopingbottom wall is supported within a vending machine cabinet tointerconnect the delivery ends of a plurality of side-by-side articlestorage columns to a vending opening. More particularly,

' the chute is pivotally supported within the vending cabinet by supportmembers positioned intermediate the width of the chute and resilientmeans are interconnected between the vending machine cabinet structureor vending mechanism and the chute at points spaced from the pivotalsupport members whereby the chute is constrained to a normal positionyet is resiliently movable when an article is being delivered thereby tothe vending opening to thus impart a lively motion to the article beingvended and prevent the jamming, wedging or binding of the articlepassing through the chute. In the preferred arrangement of theinvention, one of the pivotal support members is connected to an upperportion of the chute in a plane behind the columns of stored articleswhile the other pivotal support member is connected to a lower portion.of the chute in a plane ahead of the column of stored articles as seenfrom the front or vending opening of the machine. Also in a preferredembodiment of the invention the downwardly sloping bottom wall of thechute may be provided with a ridge extending from sideto-side andintermediate the upper and lower portions of the chute to therebyprovide an increased sloping portion of the bottom wall surface towardthe vending machine opening. It has been found that the aforementionedridge surface in the bottom Wall of the chute serves to impart adesirable orientation or movement to the article being vended as it isdeposited and moved on the chute towards the vending opening.

Further objects, features and the attendant advantages of the inventionwill be apparent with reference to the following specification anddrawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is an elevational view of a typical vending machine cabinetthat may embody the invention;

FIG. 2 is a rear elevational view of the lower portion of the vendingmachine cabinet wall showing the vending opening therethrough;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary elevational view of the lower portion of avending machine with the front wall removed and showing the pivotallyand resiliently supported vending chute of the invention;

FIG. 4 is a side view of FIG. 3, partly in section with various detailsof the vending machine omitted to more clearly show the chute of theinvention;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary detailpartly in section of the upper pivotalsupport for the chute; and

FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIG. 5 but showing the lower pivotal supportfor the chute.

Although the invention will be particularly described in connection witha cold drink multiple-flavor manuallyoperable post-select vendingmachine it should be understood that the chute arrangement of theinvention may be used with any multiple column vending machine in whicharticles are to be conveyed by the chute from the delivery end of anyone of a plurality of side-by-side columns to a relatively small vendingopening in a face Wall of the vending machine cabinet.

FIG. 1 of the drawings shows a vending machine having a cabinet 10 andcontaining six columns of cold drinks each controlled by a singlemanually-operated postselection lever 11-16 respectively. A vendingopening 20 is provided in a front face wall of the cabinet 10 and may beprovided with a hinged closure flap 21 as more clearly shown by FIG. 2of the drawing. When a chilled bottled drink is to be delivered throughthe vending open ing 20 it is deposited from a selected one of theside-byside storage columns upon actuation of a selected one of thehandles 11-16 onto the vending chute generally indicated at 30 by FIG. 3of the drawings and conveyed thereon by gravity through the pivotalclosure 21 of the vending opening 20 to rest upon the delivery stop 22.

Referring now more particularly to FIGS. 3, 4 and 5 of the drawings thevending chute 30 is comprised of inwardly and downwardly converging sidewalls 31 and 32 and a downwardly sloping bottom wall 33 that also issloping forwardly towards the front wall of the vending cabinet 10 andthe opening 20. Upstanding side walls 34 and 35 are also provided toguide an article being delivered towards the lower delivery point of thechute. A pivotal support member 40 is secured to the upper portion ofthe bottom wall 33 of the chute intermediate the width of the chute andpreferably at a central point intermediate the width of the chute. 'Itwill be noted that the upper pivotal support member 40 is normallypositioned in a vertical plane to the rear of the article storagemagazine frame member 44 as seen from the front of the cabinet 10. Alower pivotal support member 41 is secured to a lower portion of thebottom wall 33 of the chute at a point intermediate the width of thechute and preferably in vertical alignment with the upper support member40 but in a vertical plane ahead of the article storage magazine as seenfrom the front of the cabinet l0. The upper support member 40 isprovided with a pin or projection 42 adapted to be received in asuitable aperture 43 of the vending machine cabinet structure ormechanism frame member 44. The lower support member 41 is provided witha slot 45 through which may be keyed a pivotal support pin 46 secured toan angle 47 :hatis in turn fastened to the vending cabinet support framemember 48. A snap ring or lock washer 49 may 3e provided to removablysecure the pivotal support member 41 of the chute to the cabinet supportpin 46.

A first spring member 50 is secured between a frame portion 51 of thevending mechanism and the point 52 on :he vending chute 30, which pointis remote from either 3f the support members 40 or 41. A second springmem- Jer 52 is interconnected to the vendiing mechanism frame it 53 andthe point 54 of the pivotal chute 30 which point remote from the supportmembers 40 and 41 and the JOiIlt of connection 52 for the spring 50.Thus the ivotal chute 30 is constrained to a normal position as shown byFIG. 3 of the drawings but is allowed to move )r pivot about the pivotpoints 42 and 46 when an article :0 be vended is dropped thereon to bemoved by gravity )0 thevending opening 20. Such resilient movement of:he vending chute 30 imparts a lively motion to the trticle beingvended. In addition when an article to be vended is selected from acolumn nearest the side wall of the vending machine the pivotal vendingchute 30 can Jivot and tilt towards that side thus providing additional:learance and preventing the article from binding or jamning between thedelivery end of the article storage :olumn or mechanism frame and thedelivery chute.

When it is-desired to remove the vending chute 30 in )rder to gainaccess to other portions of the vending nachine within the vendingcabinet it is only necessary to remove the snap-ring 49 and disconnectthe springs 50 and 52 before pulling the chute forwardly out of thecabinet. it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that the pivotsupport pin 42 will simply withdraw from tthe aperture 43 while the slot45 moves outwardly off of the support pin 46.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention the downwardly sloping bottomwall 33 of the chute 30 may be provided with a ridge 36 to define anincreasingly sloped portion towards the lower delivery end of the chute.The ridge 36 may extend substantially across the bottom wall at a pointintermediate the upper edge and the lower delivery edge of the bottomwall 33. It has been found that the ridge 36 of the bottom wall of thechute imparts a desired orientation or movement to the article beingvended as it is deposited upon the chute and contacts the ridged portionof the bottom wall thereof. Obviously, the ridged portion of the bottomwall may take different positions and angles within the spirit of theinvention to accommodate different sizes and shapes of articles beingvended and the claims of the invention are not to be limited to aparticular configuration of ridge for the bottom wall of the chute.

Various modifications may be made within the spirit of the invention.

I claim as my invention:

1. A vending machine comprising, a cabinet, a vending opening in a facewall of said cabinet, a plurality of side-by-side article storagecolumns within said cabinet, an article delivery chute interconnectingthe delivery ends of said columns and said vending opening, meanspivotally supporting said chute intermediate its width along a pivotaxis in general alignment with the chute longitudinal axis within saidcabinet, and resilient means interconnecting said chute and said cabinetat points spaced from said pivotal supporting means to resilientlyconstrain said chute to a predetermined position while per mittingmotion of said chute during delivery of an article being vended.

2. The invention of claim 1 in which said chute is provided with sidewalls converging downwardly towards said vending opening and a bottomwall sloping forwardly and downwardly towards said vending opening.

3. The invention of claim 1 in which said chute is provided with sidewalls converging downwardly towards said vending opening and a bottomwall sloping forwardly and downwardly towards said vending opening, saidbottom wall having a ridge extending from side-to-side at a. pointintermediate its length to define an increased sloping portion of thebottom wall surface towards said vending opening.

4. The invention of claim 1 in which said means pivotally supportingsaid chute is comprised of an upper pivotal support member secured to anupper surface of said chute and a lower pivotal support member securedto a lower surface of said chute, said upper and lower support membersbeing secured to said chute in substantial vertical alignment with eachother.

5. The invention of claim 4 in which said upper support member issecured to said chute in a plane behind said article storage columns andsaid lower support member is secured to said chute in a plane ahead ofsaid article storage columns from said vending opening.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,412,368 12/1946Tascher 21149 2,441,519 5/1948 Terhune 312-36 X 2,903,155 9/1959Whitefied 2211 15 CLAUDE A. LE ROY, Primary Examiner.

JOHN PETO, Examiner.

1. A VENDING MACHINE COMPRISING, A CABINET, A VENDING OPENING IN A FACEWALL OF SAID CABINET, A PLURALITY OF SIDE-BY-SIDE ARTICLE STORAGECOLUMNS WITHIN SAID CABINET, AN ARTICLE DELIVERY CHUTE INTERCONNECTINGTHE DELIVERY ENDS OF SAID COLUMNS AND SAID VENDING OPENING, MEANSPIVOTALLY SUPPORTING SAID CHUTE INTERMEDIATE ITS WIDTH ALONG A PIVOTAXIS IN GENERAL ALIGNMENT WITH THE CHUTE LONGITUDINAL AXIS WITHIN SAIDCABINET, AND RESILIENT MEANS INTERCONNECTING SAID CHUTE AND SAID CABINETAT POINTS SPACED FROM SAID PIVOTAL SUPPORTING MEANS TO RESILIENTLYCONSTRAIN SAID CHUTE TO A PREDETERMINED POSITION WHILE PERMITTING MOTIONOF SAID CHUTE DURING DELIVERY OF AN ARTICLE BEING VENDED.